(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an apparatus positioned along the length of a conveyor that detects the orientation and condition of objects conveyed by the conveyor and selectively removes objects from the conveyor depending on the sensed orientation of the object on the conveyor and the sensed condition of the object on the conveyor. More specifically, the present invention pertains to a plurality of sensors positioned along the length of a belt conveyor that senses whether a bottle conveyed by the conveyor is positioned in an upright orientation, in an inverted orientation, in a sideways orientation, in a slanted orientation, or whether the bottle is damaged, and an air jet nozzle positioned downstream of the plurality of sensors that selectively emits a jet of air at a bottle conveyed past the air jet that has been sensed to be not in the upright orientation or to be damaged, thus removing the bottle from the conveyor.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In conveying systems that convey light-weight objects in the manufacture and/or packaging of the objects, for example a belt conveyor conveying empty, plastic blow molded bottles, the objects or bottles are often fed from a large bin onto the conveyor surface. The bin is filled with bottles in random orientations and although the dispensing mechanism of the bin is designed to position bottles on the moving conveyor surface with the bottles in upright orientations, bottles can be deposited onto the moving conveyor surface in other than the upright orientation. For example, a bottle could be deposited onto the conveyor in an inverted orientation of the bottle, with the bottle balanced on its spout opening. The bottle could also be deposited onto the conveyor in a sideways orientation of the bottle, with the bottle laying on its side. A pair of bottles could be deposited onto the conveyor with both bottles oriented sideways with one bottle laying on its side on the conveyor and the other bottle laying on its side on top of the one bottle. If the bottles are being deposited onto the conveyor in a sequence, a bottle in the sequence could be deposited by the bin onto the conveyor with the bottle in a slanted orientation with the bottle slanting toward and engaging against either the bottle before it in the sequence or the bottle after it in the sequence. In addition, bottles in less than perfect condition could also be deposited by the bin onto the moving conveyor. For example, imperfect bottles or bottles that have been crushed, torn apart or molded incorrectly could be deposited by the bin onto the conveyor. It is also possible that a bottle preform or the plastic blank that is blow molded into a bottle could end up in the bin and be deposited on the conveyor. Other foreign objects could also end up in the bin and be deposited onto the moving conveyor surface.
The incorrectly oriented bottles, the damaged bottles or bottles in imperfect condition, as well as the other debris deposited onto the moving surface of the conveyor must be removed from the conveyor to prevent these objects from being included among the properly formed, upright oriented bottles that are further processed downstream of the conveyor, for example being processed by being formed in rows and palletized. Manually inspecting each bottle as it is conveyed along the conveyor increases the manufacturing and/or packaging costs of the bottles. What is needed to avoid these additional costs is an automated apparatus that can detect when a bottle is properly formed and in an upright orientation on the conveyor, as well as detect bottles in a variety of orientations other than the upright orientation on the conveyor, and detect crushed or incorrectly molded bottles and other bottles in imperfect condition and other debris, and automatically remove all bottles and debris from the conveyor surface other than the properly molded and upright oriented bottles.